Union Rags colt steals show at Fasig-Tipton Midlantic

TIMONIUM, Md. - The third and final session of the Fasig-Tipton Midlantic 2-year-olds in training under-tack preview show took place under long-awaited sunny skies after rain pelted the Baltimore area last week, forcing the postponement of this session. A Union Rags colt was worth waiting for, as he emerged Sunday afternoon to work the fastest furlong, the traditional measuring stick for auction juveniles, to stand alone atop the leaderboard.

Behind the Union Rags colt, two dozen juveniles tied for the second-fastest furlong time at 10 1/5 seconds on the five-furlong dirt track at the Maryland State Fairgrounds. That group of works was fairly evenly distributed among the three days of the breeze show.

The Fasig-Tipton Midlantic auction will be conducted Monday and Tuesday, with sessions beginning each day at 2 p.m. Eastern – a later start time than originally scheduled, to allow buyers additional time to inspect horses following the changes to the breeze show schedule.

The New York-bred Union Rags colt, who is consigned as agent by Bobby Dodd, is cataloged as Hip 561, placing him in Tuesday's session of the two-day sale. The February foal is the second offspring of the winning Tale of the Cat mare Tanglewood Tale. Her first foal is the winning Big Thicket, a full brother to this colt.

Tanglewood Tale's granddam is a full sister to champion sprinter Housebuster. Graded stakes winners appearing on the catalog page also include Be Gentle, Harvard Avenue, Nicole H, Quero Quero, and Something Extra.

No one came close to matching the breeze show's fastest quarter-mile work, posted last Wednesday by a colt from the first crop of 2013 Breeders' Cup Classic winner Mucho Macho Man. The colt went his quarter in 21 1/5 seconds to lead the 61 who worked that distance by two-fifths of a second.

The April colt, who is consigned by Kirkwood Stables as Hip 278, is out of the winning Giant's Causeway mare Itsagiantcauseway, who is from the family of Canadian Horse of the Year Peaks and Valleys and Eclipse Award champion Forever Together. Other graded stakes winners in the extended family include prominent sire Broken Vow.

One horse at the breeze show worked three furlongs, with Hip 51, another Mucho Macho Man colt, going that distance in 37 seconds flat for agent Julie Davies. Hip 43, a Majesticperfection colt from the Crane Thoroughbreds Services consignment, merely galloped. Both those horses took their turn on the track during last Tuesday's opening session.

Sunday's under-tack session was marred when Hip 410, a Bandbox colt working in the first set of horses, suffered a catastrophic breakdown while galloping out after a 10 1/5 work. Clovis Crane, of consignor Crane Thoroughbreds, confirmed that the rider of the colt escaped without serious injury.

Crane said the colt, a half-brother to two stakes winners, had been "absolutely fine" and "perfect" in sale prep, indicating that the colt took an unlucky bad step.

To view the full results from the three days of the under-tack show, click here:
http://www.fasigtipton.com/ci/undertackshow/view/2018/Midlantic-Two-Year-Olds-In-Training